Social Networking Posts - Page 23

If we listen to the latest data from comScore, Google+ users actually spent an average of 3.3 minutes per month on Google+ in January of this year. Comparing this number to Facebook, where they have an average of 7.5 hours last month, this is a whopping 136-times greater than the average Google+ visitor.

Google of course downplayed the super-low numbers, claiming that their own internal data shows much higher numbers, and that Google+ is actually growing. If we look at the other comScore data, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter all beat Google+ in minutes-per-month spent on the respective social networking websites. We have 17 minutes, 8 minutes, and 21 minutes for LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter, respectively.

Just 7.5 hours a month on Facebook? Well, considering I'm on the thing for 8 hours-plus per day, what am I? A super non-average Facebook user? Am I addicted? Not as much as some, I have friends and family who literally spend those 7.5 hours, in a single day, on a smartphone, and not get bored. I'm bored of Facebook in minutes, I just have it sitting in a Chrome tab, waiting for that (1) to show up and haunt me to check it out.

GroupMe is the best way to chat with everyone you know. It's absolutely free, whether you're talking to a group of friends, or texting with one person. Best of all, it works on nearly every phone, via push or SMS. With GroupMe, it's easy to reach anyone, anytime, anywhere.

On GroupMe, you can catch up with your family, get a group together for a night out, coordinate with co-workers, or just gossip with a few of your closest friends. Think about it like your own private Twitter, just for the people you really know. Or like a faster, better reply-all email.

No matter how you think about it, "you won't know how you lived without it once you give it a shot." -Gizmodo

Now a part of the Skype family.

FEATURES:

-Start groups with the people already in your contacts...no need to remember usernames or PINs.

-Whenever you or anyone else in the group sends a message, everyone receives it. The conversation starts instantly.

-The app uses your data connection by default, but when you have a poor connection, you can switch to receiving messages via SMS. You'll never miss a message!

Foursquare lover? PlayStation Vita owner? Well, the Foursquare app has officially checked in to the US PlayStation Store, and for just 4.5MB, it can be yours. The app works over Wi-Fi, but the app does suggest you use 3G to help the Vita's GPS get the correct position of your check-in.

Foursquare's app is also said to be compatible with the Vita's rear touchpad and cameras, which is a nice bonus. Engadget have prodded around with the Foursquare app and report that it feels similar to the Facebook app released just a few days ago for the PS Vita.

Vita owner? Foursquare user? Be sure to leave a comment to let us know your experience with the Vita + Foursquare, there's over 1.2 million of you out there now!

Have you so far liked no ads on your Twitter feed on your iOS, or Android-based devices? Well, not for long! Twitter are now allowing promoted tweets to appear in the feeds of the iOS and Android apps, according to an announcement.

Promoted tweets are nothing new, but until now, they've only been shown on the twitter.com web client. Advertisers, at the moment, are limited to displaying tweets to people who already follow them on Twitter, but over the next few months this restriction will fade into oblivion. At the moment, iPads escape these ads.

This will of course annoy some Twitter users, because smartphones have been essential to Twitter's immense popularity, and until now, have been a safe haven from ads. Twitter's mobile apps do have some advertising, but only in a similar way that other smartphone apps do. Promoted tweets appear mixed in with the content a person chooses to receive, adding to the clutter.

Twitter only recently started a self-serve advertising program, and expects an injection of new ad buyers. All new ad buys will include mobile by default now.

Well, the chief over here at TweakTown would be happy - he's a check-in master on Foursquare, so is our currently hospital-bound VGA editor, where I've stayed away from the whole Foursquare thing. In the mean time, Google have quietly rolled out Latitude Leaderboards.

From the title, you should be able to tell. There's been an update baked into the latest Maps app, where Google have introduced another level of functionality. Check-ins now earn you points that get tallied up and are used to rank Google+ users on a global leaderboard, kinda like Foursquare.

The feature hasn't rolled out to everyone just yet, and only reveals itself after you check-in somewhere. If I used Google+ more, I think I'd probably get into it, but this is something I'd personally like to just 'pop-up' on my phone. For example, you walk into a store (say a McDonalds) and it pops up with a notification "would you like to check-in?" Clicking 'yes' goes into whatever check-in app you prefer (Facebook, Google+, Foursquare) and checks you in. If it did that, I'd use it.

Facebook for Timeline has been great for some, personally, I love it. It's not super-useful, but it looks nice going to a profile with Timeline. That's just me. According to new reports, Facebook will bring its Timeline profile pages to brands this month, starting in the US.

Facebook teased Timeline back in September of last year at their F8 conference, and at the time of the announcement, Facebook said they would wait to roll out the new feature for brands. Faebook Vice President of Marketing and Business Partnerships, David Fischer, has said that Timeline for Brands would be "consistent" with the Timeline look-and-feel, but would not be a carbon copy.

The new Timeline for Brands will start in beta, and have just a handful of partners, after which it'll roll through to others in stages. Facebook have of course, declined to comment. Facebook for Brands will be interesting to see, and what businesses can do with the new Timeline-equipped pages.

Tweetbot is a full-featured iPad Twitter client with a lot of personality. Whether it's the meticulously-crafted interface, sounds & animation, or features like multiple timelines & smart gestures, there's a lot to love about Tweetbot.

Tweetbot for the iPad is everything you love about the iPhone app and more!

Facebook have introduced apps for Timeline, in the form of Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, TripAdvisor, and more. This allows you to enhance your timeline with apps that help tell your story, in the way you want it to look.

Once an app is added, you can update your timeline with activities as they happen. For example, if you like design, shopping or fashion, you can add the Pinterest or Pose apps, to make your favorite items part of your timeline. There are other apps that make your timeline, pop, such as food-centric apps and travel-centric apps.

Facebook promise that there'll soon be apps for all interests, which will launch over time. After you've added an app, you can remove posts directly from timeline, as well as edit your settings from your personal Activity Log. It seems Facebook is slowly becoming an internal Internet. Just like Step Brothers, there's SO MANY ACTIVITIES!

I have to admit, I scour the entire interwebs for news, virtually each and every day and up until now, I did not even know about Orkut. Orkut is a Google-owned social network, that gets overshadowed by its own rival, Google+ and other players such as Facebook. Orkut is still massively popular in India and Brazil, where more than 80-percent of its 66 million active users come from, as of October 2011.

Google have just released a native Orkut client for the iPhone, which is available for free from the App Store and includes the usual feature set like updating your status, and checking your scraps and messages to browsing your friends' profiles and uploading photos.

Facebook has previously held presidential debates, Twitter has had live concerts, but now theater has taken the social networking stage. Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater used Facebook to host a live theater experience on Monday, which is what they have called, Facebook's first performance.

Maxim Gorki Theater used Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest, and performance a special adaption for the "online Facebook stage", reported Reuters. A spokesperson for the theater told Reuters:

We were really pleased to try something new and innovative, and have learned a lot about how we can use the internet for our productions. Facebook can't replace the stage, but it offers some really interesting opportunities to perform theatre online.

They really broke through with something new, by offering status updates, shared photos and wall posts between characters, all part of the interactive experience. During the show, audience members voted for their favorite wedding dress option and contributed to a love letter exchanged between characters. But, the audience were warned that Facebook chatter during the show was 'discouraged'. The performance narrator sent "silence in the theater, please," messages, kind of like a virtual dimming of the lights.